Naan bread: Feel the fear and cook it anyway, episode 6

As recipes go, the idea of making naan bread has always given me the fear.

Don't get me wrong, I love eating it, but it's very rarely found in its vegan form. So, when I stumbled across a recipe for naan bread that was egg-free, dairy-free and all the rest, I knew I had to get involved and satisfy my naan needs.

Despite the fact that the recipe looked like it would take forever to make, I decide to make it because, well... dudes, just check out the recipe and tell me you don't want to make it too: chec it out - it's Dan Lepard's chickpea naan roll.

It's a glorious dish - a single hand-sized package of naan-y outside and chickpea curry insides. And, handily, it's all vegan to begin with - no egg replacers or any of that malarkey required.

Still, if you're one of those annoying people that says nothing good is ever easy, then this one's for you: it's good, but it's definitely not easy.  It's a lot of stirring, kneading, waiting, scraping dough scraps off your hands, worktop, and random areas it's found its way into, and then staring expectantly into the oven while it all cooks. But it's worth it.

Actually, I'm lying a bit there: the dough feels like it's hard work because it take ages to make, but most of the time you spend on it is time spent waiting for it to rise. The waiting time also gives you a bit of a gap to make the filling - a mix of chickpeas, veggies and spices (I added some red lentils in, because, well - most things go better with red lentils. Except Greco-Roman wrestling arenas and red lentil allergy cures.)

What's actually hardest about making naan is trying to roll out the sticky dough without it attaching to other bits of itself, yourself, the rolling pin, passers-by etc etc. and then putting enough filling inside the dough so that it's nicely stuffed, but not too much that it will burst when cooking.

But, let me say it again - it's all worth it. If you can brave it, you'll end up with a dainty little all-in-one parcels of curry and naan that you can stick in your lunchbox and impress your vegan and omni friends alike.

Naan, consider yourself vanquished!